


Home and Heart

by tfm



Series: Post-Ep Fics [5]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Episode Tag, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:14:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26318512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tfm/pseuds/tfm
Summary: Coming to Nicodranas always feels like coming home, today more than ever.Or, Beau and Yasha spend an afternoon together.Post episode 108 fic.
Relationships: Beauregard Lionett/Yasha
Series: Post-Ep Fics [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1870387
Comments: 15
Kudos: 252





	Home and Heart

Home and Heart

Nicodranas was, as always, a breath of fresh air. Something to do with the way the salt came in from the sea, and there was just that perfect amount of wind, and the jumble of towers and flags and cultures that made Beau's heart sing. After their first time coming here, she had looked up the meaning of the name; “gathering of colors” felt very appropriate, both for the city, and for the Nein themselves. Like Nicodranas, they all came from different places, and yet had found a disjointed, but somehow perfect whole.

Both Nicodranas and the Nein felt warm and comforting in a way that Kamordah never did, in a way that Zadash never did. Being so close to the ocean definitely didn't hurt. There was something about the waves crashing in on the sand that put Beau's heart and mind at ease.

Jester was bouncing on her heels. The subdued tone that had overcome the tiefling since the end of Traveler Con had all but dissipated. Things hadn't exactly gone to plan, but they had gone as well as they could have gone, and Beau was maybe a tiny, tiny bit coming around on the idea that the Traveler wasn't a complete asshole.

But that was a matter to discuss another time. Jester was clearly very excited to be seeing her mother again, and even Veth had an unshakable smile on her face.

'—anyway,' Jester was saying. 'Bluud says there are lots of people staying there tonight, so you will all probably have to share.' She gave Beau a conspiratorial sort of look, and Beau couldn't help but turn red. 'I will be staying with Momma, so Beau, you and Yasha will be on your own.'

'Oh, awesome. I mean, yeah...great. Sure.' She turned to Fjord, who was walking beside her, and mouthed, ' _What the fuck did you tell her?_ ' He put his hands up in a gesture of innocence. Maybe Beau wasn't being as subtle as she'd thought.

_You're being about as subtle as a brick in a hurricane_ , Beau told herself. And yet somehow too subtle for Yasha to notice. Or Yasha  _had_ noticed, and was trying to ignore it. Beau couldn't help but flash a glance behind her, and could have sworn that Yasha's face was a little bit red. 'That alright with you, Yash?'

Yasha started slightly, as though she didn't realize she was going to be consulted in the matter. 'Yes....that is...I am okay with that.' She flashed Beau a small smile that made Beau's heart swell just a little. It wasn't that Yasha didn't smile often. Well, at the very least, she smiled a lot more often than she used to, and it always made Beau feel better when those smiles were directed at her.

As they meandered over towards the Lavish Chateau, Beau had a bit of a spring in her own step. As much as anything else, she was glad to be back on the mainland. Rumblecusp had been interesting enough, with its dinosaurs, and its slivers of other planes, but they had all had a bit of a rough go of it in one way or another, and the mainland was at least a bit more predictable. Beau was pretty sure she wasn't going to get knocked out by a single glance from any of the Zholezo, for one thing.

Plus, the birds weren't all that likely to try and bite you in half.

The same way she always did when she came here, Beau kept an eye out for a speckled brown and gray owl. There were plenty of birds on the Menagerie Coast; hulls, and turns, and curlews, the kind of birds that Beau had only ever seen in books before coming here. Not that Kamordah didn't have birds. The dark, creepy hag forest had birds in it, and there were no shortage of raptors and smaller birds, too. Today, though, Beau didn't see any owls.

It was mostly habit now, anyway. She wasn't sure what she would do if Professor Thaddeus just showed up, demanding mice, or scratches, or something like that. It was like Fjord said, she was so far away from the person that had bought him all those months ago.

It was only the early afternoon; getting to the boat cave, and getting the boats out had taken the better part of the morning.

Beau was keen to explore. She climbed the staircase of the Lavish Chateau to dump her gear off, marveling at the intricate brocade wallpaper, and the fancy chandeliers. It was so different to her parents' estate, even though it was probably the same level of extravagant. At least Beau felt welcome here.

She stopped at the door to the room that Jester had indicated, and swore. Yasha, who was about half a step behind, was at Beau's side in an instant. 'Is there a problem?'

'Not really a problem,' Beau said. She stepped forward so that Yasha could come into the room. It was a nice room. The same décor as the rest of the building, and a big, wide window that looked out over Nicodranas and the ocean. There was a dresser made of dark wood, and a small table with a couple of chairs, and even an attached bathroom that looked like it had a very nice bath in it.

None of that was what Beau was looking at, though. She was look at the bed. Bed, singular. It was big – it was fucking enormous – but there was only one.

It was weird. They'd all shared beds before. Hells, almost every night for the past week, they'd slept inside a small dome, ass to ankles. More than once, Beau had woken up with a tail around her waist, or a hand on her shoulder.

Somehow, this felt different.

'Oh.' Based on the way Yasha's cheeks turned red, she clearly saw the problem as immediately as Beau did. 'I mean, I can sleep on the floor, it's not...I mean, I do it a lot anyway. These beds are very...' They _all_ slept on the floor a lot, but Beau got what she meant. Sometimes these beds were just a little bit _too_ comfortable sometimes. Like it felt like you were falling asleep on a cloud. But not really. That would have been pretty wet.

'We can sleep together, I don't mind.' Beau winced as soon as she said it, and didn't quite manage to turn away before Yasha's cheeks turned even more red. 'In the bed, I mean. It's a big bed, y'know.' She tripped over the words trying to fix her mistake, and left the room almost as quickly as she had entered it.

Outside, Beau didn't quite know where she wanted to go. It was a clear day. The sky was a beautiful, brilliant blue, and it was the perfect amount of warm. Nice enough that she could go around in her crop top without feeling cold (not that that would have stopped her), and not so warm that she started sweating.

Everyone had their own plans. Jester and Veth were busy with family, and Caduceus and Fjord were going up to the lighthouse on Secret Wildmother Business, and Caleb was once more on the hunt for paper and ink, which left Beau and Yasha.

'Do you....ah....want to go for a walk along the beach?' Beau found herself asking. It was a stupid question. They'd just spent a week on a tropical island, the last thing Yasha would have wanted—

'Yes,' Yasha said, almost immediately. Oh. Well okay then.

The sand was warm, but not unbearable. Beau took off her boots, and slung them over her shoulder. Yasha did the same. She didn't have her breastplate or her sword or her shawl, but even with just the tunic, she looked far less at home walking along the coast than Beau did. 'Is this alright?' Beau asked. She didn't want to force Yasha to do anything she didn't want to do.

'Of course.' Yasha smiled, and it was the most beautiful godsdamned thing Beau had ever seen. Yasha's smile was nothing like Jester's. Jester's smile was a mischievous sort of grin. Yasha's was small, but somehow seemed to light up her face like nothing else.

There were a few rocky outcroppings a little way down the beach. One of them, Beau was pretty sure, was the one that she had meditated on, all those months ago. A little way further than that was the place that Beau had camped, just weeks ago, and had heard the sound of a harp in the night.

Yasha had brought her harp with her now, apparently looking for a nice, quiet place to practice.

They walked a decent way down, until they were far from the hustle of the city proper. Now, there were birds, and waves, and the occasional ship on the horizon, but apart from that, they were alone.

Once upon a time, that would have been a horrifying feeling, but now, it felt as comfortable as Nicodranas, or the Mighty Nein. With Yasha, Beau felt...safe. Happy.

They sat down on the sand, barely five fee apart from each other. Yasha pulled her harp from her back, and began to play. Beau crossed her legs, and closed her eyes, letting the sound wash over her.

It wasn't bad. Yasha was definitely getting better. Beau didn't know much about musical theory (she had a few very bad memories of being forced to learn piano as a very young child. It hadn't ended well), but all the notes seemed to work together, and the missed notes were far less frequent than they had been even a week ago.

The songs she had played on the island had been a little bit sad, but this one sounded almost hopeful. Bright, sharp notes that fit so well amongst the bustle and life of Nicodranas. Almost immediately, Beau put a pause on her meditation just to listen. Yasha could have been playing the same note over and over again, but to Beau it would have been breathtaking.

Once she realized she was being watched, Yasha faltered slightly. Her cheeks colored once more, and she rested the harp across her knees.

'You're getting really good,' Beau told her.

'I don't know...I think...maybe it would be easier to learn if I had a teacher, or if I knew the first thing about playing a harp.' Yasha gave a nervous sort of chuckle.

'Nah,' Beau said. 'This way, you're playing _your_ sound, y'know? It's just...authentically you.' Yasha clearly didn't know what Beau meant, but seemed pleased anyway.

'I, ah...I do not want to interrupt your meditation.'

It was weird. Though she had managed a grand total of four seconds of actual meditation, Beau felt far more at peace than she had in a long time. Maybe it was something to do with the discussions that they had had the last two days, about what their next steps were, and what the rest of the Mighty Nein planned to do. None of them, save perhaps Veth, showed any sign of wanting to leave, of wanting to move on, but even that was the issue of wanting to be _with_ her family, rather than wanting to be away from the Nein.

'I'm a grand bastion of inner peace,' Beau said, grinning. She laid back in the sand, and stared up at the sky. A few clouds drifted overhead. One of them looked like a dragon.

' _You bring me peace,_ ' Yasha said, only it wasn't her normal voice. It sounded like a choir of angels, bright and resonating. It took Beau a few moments to move past the sheer pleasantness of the sound, and understand the words.

'What?' she said, like she had misheard, even though she knew that she absolutely hadn't.

'It is just, ah...a saying in Celestial.' She didn't sound like a choir of angels anymore. Just one angel. Somehow, though, the mere sound of Yasha's voice gave the same sort of affect.

'“You bring me peace,”' Beau said, in Common, and Yasha gave a slightly horrified sort of look.

'I don't...I did not know that you knew Celestial.' Her face was red once more. The message that Beau _actually_ got from that, was that Yasha hadn't wanted her to understand. She wasn't entirely sure what to make of that.

'I don't,' Beau admitted. She frowned. 'Say something else,' Beau said, turning her head to the side. Yasha was lying in the sand next to her, eyes wide. 'Something...something true. Something...something you want to tell me.' Yasha's eyes seemed to widen further.

' _You are my home_ ,' she said, finally, and Beau couldn't help but choke out half a sob. She extended her hand out to the side, and it took less than a second for Yasha to grasp it. Yasha smiled, and Beau's heart burst into warmth once more.

They lay there, hand in hand, until the sun went down.


End file.
